UPDATE 2:12 PM:
The woman attacked in an alley near 17th and Howell around 3:30 AM had given her assailant a ride to the location, Seattle Police Department spokesperson Sean Whitcomb tells CHS. The 24-year-old woman suffered minor injuries in the assault. Whitcomb said it does not appear the man was armed. Whitcomb said the suspect managed to elude the subsequent helicopter and K-9 unit search. The suspect is described as a black male in his 20s, approximately 5′ 8″ and wearing a black sweatshirt, blue jeans and a black beanie at the time of the assault.
UPDATE 1:25 PM:
CHS just talked with area resident Nathan Williams who e-mailed us this explanation for the helicopter search. We’ll follow up with SPD to see what else we can learn. Here’s Nathan’s mail:
I was awakened this morning at 3:30am or so by a woman screaming “help” (alley between 17th, 18th, denny, and howell). I dressed quickly and found her sitting on the ground. She had been beaten pretty badly and said a man had tried to rape and kill her. I asked her if the man was still around, but she said he had driven off. She had already called the police by this point and soon an ambulance came down Denny which I flagged down.
They started treating her and I went back inside. Soon after cops started arriving and searched the area pretty exhaustively (at least 6 cops, a dog) and the helicopter started circling around that time. I’m guessing it was a police helicopter looking for her assailant, though if he actually drove off I can’t imagine it would have done much good. They roped off the area around her car with police tape but it was gone (as was the car) by the time I was up again at 8am.
The woman was in rough shape but none of her injuries seemed life-threatening. I hope she’s doing alright.
bits of police tape morning after mystery
helicopter circling in middle of night 2009-08-27
Originally uploaded by pmocek
Here’s the picture of the alley where SPD was investigating that Phil links to in the comments on this post.
Original Report:
Back on the CHS mystery helicopter beat. A flurry of reports of a late-night copter buzzing the Hill early this A.M. Looking into the why of it. Know anything? [email protected]
any idea why there was a helicopter hovering over my bedroom (16th & e olive st) last night at 3:52am? it was terrifying. i thought we might be under attack, but i guess not. i didn’t see anything in the incident log, either. eventually, it circled a little until about 4:03am, when it left the area. i never heard any sirens (thank goodness) so i guess they didn’t find the person/people for whom they were searching…just curious (and sleepy.)thanks,alison
Thanks for the tip, neighbor Alison. Here are a few more Hill reports of the buzz:
- x03: Awake thanks to the Capitol Hill stealth helicopter special 4am edition. Internet proves useless in helping me get back to sleep…
- RobLaGatta: Anyone know what’s up with this helicopter hovering like 20 feet above Capitol Hill with no lights on at 4 in the morning? Weak.
We’ll check in with SPD and other powers that be to see what we can find out. A man was shot and killed around this time in the Mt. Baker area — a subsequent search by helicopter could be an explanation.
found bits of police tape -not there in the afternoon- this morning in the alley behind the Fred Lind house on 17th. Heard the helicopter for a very long time last night above the house on 17th.
It was *loud* at 17th & Denny. More testing of some private company’s IR imaging equipment? I didn’t see any search light coming from it, just lots of circling around here at the top of the hill with some indicator lights on the outside.
I wonder if the noise ordinance applies to aircraft.
Yeah, what was up with that? Woke me up at 4am. And the circling motion of the copter meant that everytime it started fading away I would think it was finally going away, but then it would come back just as loud as it circled back around. Annoying. We’re at 21st/Pine (radio point) and it appeared to be hovering right over Madison Market/Trader Joe’s, from my viewpoint.
I can’t say whether it was there previously, but there are indeed a couple bits of police tape in that alley now.
It happened south of here, but maybe it was related to the shooting at around 3 am:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2009757978_w
I woke up and I’m on 10th and Roy. After they bungled the mystery purse slicer caper (nope, that’s just pillows in my hammock) my ears perk up to the blackbird even miles away, thinking soon I will be awoken by 309 cops in my backyard oasis.
I don’t know if this has anything to do with it but I was abducted by the Pleiadeans again last night. This has happened a few times since I moved to the Hill. The helicopter could have been a USAF or FBI chopper as they’re usually in the area following an encounter. Anyway, possibly there’s a more mundane explanation but I think it’d be an odd coincidence if I was both abducted and a mystery helicopter were in the area at the same time.
THX –
I live really close to the alley in question, woke to police and an ambulance about 3:20am, though I assume the ambulance was for someone at Fred Lynn who got too excited by the real commotion (an old lady got carted out)
They taped off about a quarter of the alley and were photographing something by the side of this garage in the alley (and possibly a house) and looking at a red car parked next to the garage. They later had a tow truck tow come and pull the red car out, though I’m not sure they needed to see the car in the clear or what. I assume the car got towed, it looked like a 90’s Camaro.
The helicopter got there a little before 4am I think, and a K-9 unit also was searching the alleyways.
So – obviously they were looking for someone. Not sure the problem. They all left at about 4:30 I think
I might add that officers could be heard saying that “we tried”, I can only assume that attempts to catch whoever they were looking for were unsucessful
“So – obviously they were looking for someone.”
Sounds a bit far-fetched to me.
Where is the Fred Lynn House (a.k.a. the alley in question)?
Uh, when a K-9 unit comes out and you see them taking the dog through the alleys and streets, and the officers are looking under cars, in trash bins, I think you can safely assume that they were looking for someone. Geez. Helicopters might be dead giveaway too, maybe? How about cop cars in alleys blocking them off on several adjacent streets?
Tim: Fred Lind Manor is on 17th Ave E. between E. Denny Way and E. Howell St. The alley runs from Denny to Howell between 17th and 18th.
if it helps people to have a better idea of the location of the crime, it would be two blocks NORTH of Trader Joe’s, but in the alley obviously.
And Fred Lind is that ugly 5 story retirement home that takes up the entire block on 17th between Denny and Howell.
sadly, those of us who live near Fred Lind are used to seeing ambulances pull up one day, and for rent signs put up the next…
Justin, did the attacker drive away in the victim’s car? And is there a description of the car that should be shared w/the public?
This is very selfish of me, but that was, I have to say, utter hell. I really hope no one was hurt last night, and obviously the noise isn’t as bad as being attacked, but it definitely ranks high on my list of worst ways to aurally attack someone. When I hear a helicopter now I think I sort of twitch. I had my worst work day in a long time due to being woken up during my “REM cycle” or whatnot at 4am. If it was out there for any reason but something public safety-related, like a news helicopter or some sort of test, I would want to file a formal complaint if it happened again – it should not be tolerated. You can’t exactly yell up to a helicopter to make it go away. They should at least have some sort of minimum altitude and then encourage some sort of use of binoculars or zoom lenses.
Thanks for looking in to this, it was very surreal to experience in the middle of the night. Please update us if you hear anything about the health of the woman who was attacked :(.
Great! I call 911 last night to report a helicopter flying low for 20 mins and they tell me it wasn’t a SPD copter. So I spend 20 min today and several 411 calls looking up the FAA to report the incident and complain. Is 911 that broken?
Because SPD doesn’t HAVE a helicopter, at least not one that is used in this way with any frequency. It’s King County’s helicopter, Guardian One, and they do the various police departments in the area a great service by assisting with air support and search operations in incidents like this one.
It’s unfortunate that it woke people up, but as residents of a densely-populated urban area shouldn’t we all have invested in a decent supply of heavy-duty earplugs by now? I’m always dismayed by the irritation I see directed at Guardian One when what they’re doing is trying to help SPD catch the bad guys.
Might have to wait for the incident report to come through. I have case number so will watch for it. Sorry no details now but will update if I can connect with SPD again about this.
Since she gave him a ride to the location, I’m wondering if it had to do with that tree, vegetation covered house of horrors that’s on 18th. I live nearby and watch the cars zoom in, someone pops out and goes inside for approx. 10-15 minutes and then jumps back in the car. Day in, day out. Sometimes as many as 15 or more in an afternoon. I can watch it all from my window across the street. That place has a lot going on.
That’s where her car was parked when I found her.